Lamp transfer apparatus



Sept. 15, 1959 K. W. REYNOLDS ETAL LAMP TRANSFER APPARATUS 3Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 23, 1956 lnven tovs: Kenne kh W. Reynolds,

CLaFence S. Tevez,

Theh- LAMP TRANSFER APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 23, 1956InveTvt'oT's:

5 mm o n. a T T We A h C T m a e T h mm. C9 w b Sept. 15, mm.

Filed Nov. 23, 1956 K. w. REYNOLDS ETAL 2,904,192

LAMP TRANSFER APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 v lnvehlrovs 26/ Kenne th WRegno Lds,

\/\/v Clarence S.Te1-e z,

8 Their Utlittid States 1. tent LAlVIP TRANSFER APPARATUS Kenneth W.Reynolds, Willonghby, and Clarence S. Terez, Maple Heights, Ohio,assignors to General Electric Company, a corporation of New YorkApplication November 23, 1956, Serial No. 624,036

1 Claim. (Cl. 214-1) Our invention relates to transfer apparatusgenerally and more particularly to transfer apparatus employed in themanufacture of electric lamps and similar devices.

In the manufacture of electric incandescent lamps, a so-called mountassembly comprising a glass flare or stem tube, a glass exhaust tube, apair of lead-in Wires and a filament, is sealed into a glass bulb andthen exhausted, and usually filled with an inert gas, on a combinationsealing and exhaust machine known as sealex machine. The sealed lampbulbs are then transferred to a conveyor on which they travel over anextended path to permit them to cool suificiently to be handled by anoperator. The operator removes the lamps from the conveyor, bends one ofthe two laterally extending lead-in wires upwardly into alignment withthe lamp bulb axis, threads a base over that lead-in wire onto the neckof the bulb and places the lamp in a finishing machine where the base isheated to set the cement contained therein, and the top and side leadwires are trimmed and connected to the base contacts, usually bysoldering or welding.

In the course of further mechanization of the lamp assembly operationsthere has been developed automatic base assembly equipment wherein thelead wires are properly shaped and oriented and a base is automaticallythreaded over the top (longitudinally extending) lead wire after whichthe lamp is transferred to the finishing machine. One such base assemblyapparatus is disclosed in Patent 2,748,450J. Flaws, In, et al. andanother in application Serial No. 492,458, C. S. Terez, filed March 7,1955, and both assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Suchequipment automatically assembles the base with the lamp bulb fordelivery to the finishing machine. However, the lamp bulbs are stillloaded into the base assembling machine by an operator or by mechanismwhich loads the bulbs without regard to orientation of the laterallyextending lead wires, thereby requiring that the basing machine beprovided with special mechanism for properly orienting the lamp, asshown and described in Patent 2,683,521-K. W. Reynolds.

It is therefore an object of our invention to provide improved mechanismfor automatically transferring lamp bulbs from the sealex machine (orfrom the exhaust machine where separate sealing and exhaust machines areemployed) to the basing machine. It is a further object to providemechanism which will retain orientation of the lead wires established onthe sealex machine. By maintaining a positive and controlled grip on thelamp bulb throughout the transfer function, the lead wires are notdistorted and their orientation is not destroyed.

In accordance with a further feature of our invention, provision is madein the transfer mechanism for a predetermined degree of rotation of thelamp bulb about its axis and proper orientation or positioning of thelead wires in the basing machine. Such rotation of the lamp bulb permitsadvantageous location of the basing machine in a manner to materiallyconserve floor space and yet assure proper orientation of the lamp inthe basing machine. Moreover, by providing for adjustability in the 72,904,192 Patented Sept. 15, 1959 ICC degree of rotation of the lampbulb in the transfer mechanism, the angular relationship or alignment ofthe basing machine with the sealex machine need not be closely fixed.Furthermore, in a preferred species of the transfer equipment, thetransfer is effected in two steps. In one step the bulb is carried fromthe sealex machine to an intermediate point between the sealex and thebasing machines by mechanism which rotates the bulb about its axis whilemaintaining it in a vertical neck-down position, and in the second stepthe bulb is inverted to a neck-up positionand deposited in the basingmachine. The separate steps are preferred in order to permit highoperating speeds which are rather difiicult to attain with a singlemember operating over the relatively large distance between the twomachines.

Further features and advantages of our invention will appear from thefollowing detailed description of a species thereof and from thedrawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic fioor layout of a machine group including asealex machine, a basing machine and a finishing machine;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the transfer apparatus located between thesealex and basing machines and including a primary transfer mechanism atthe right and a secondary transfer mechanism at the left, the secondarymechanism being shown, for purposes of simplification, as aligned in thesame vertical plane as the primary mechanism although it is preferablyat an angle thereto as shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the transfer mechanisms;

Fig. 4 is an end view, in section, of the transfer arm of the primarytransfer mechanism;

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View, along line 5-5 in Fig. 3, of means on theend of the primary transfer arm for adjusting the degree of rotation ofthe lamp bulb carried thereby;

Fig. 6 is a front elevation of the clamping jaws of the secondarymechanism; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary side view of a portion of th primary transferarm. 7

Referring to Fig. l of the drawing, the manufacturing group showntherein comprises a sealex machine SM, a basing machine EM and afinishing machine FM having their indexing cycles synchronized. Thesealex machine is well known in the art and may be generally of the typeshown in Patent 1,662,045F. W. Patterson and it comprises an innerturret, indicated at 1, on which the filament supporting mount is sealedinto the bulb, and a concentric outer turret 2 where the bulb isexhausted, filled with gas, the lead wires bend laterally outward inopposite directions around the bulb neck by suitable mechanism such asthat shown in Patent 2,765,002-- Reynolds, and the exhaust tube sealedor tipped off. The tipping off occurs at station A of the exhaust turretand the lamp is transferred from that point to a point C where it isdeposited in a holder or head on an indexing conveyor of the basingmachine BM. The lamp is carried from A to C in two steps, being carriedfrom A to an intermediate point B by a primary transfer mechanism PT(Figs. 2 and 3) and from B to C by a secondary transfer mechanism ST.After the lamp bulb has been provided with a base on the basing machineBM, it is removed therefrom at station D (Fig. l) and transferred into ahead at station E of the finishing machine PM by a suitable transfermechanism which maintains the orientation of the lamp.

As shown in Fig. 2, the lamp bulb 3 arrives at station A of the exhaustturret 2 in a neck-down position with its exhaust tube 4 extendingdownward and held in an exhaust port 5 on the turret 2 and with its leadwires 6 bent laterally outward and upward in opposite directions aroundthe bulb neck 7 and located substantially in a verticalplane tangent tothe path of travel 8 (Fig. 3) of the exhaustport 5. At said station Athe exhaust tube 4 is tipped off or sealed by a conventional tippingtorch (not shown) and during that operation the lamp 3 is raised and:supported by the jaws or pads 9 of an ejector unitiniwhichthe lamp bulb3 is cradled and supported;

In; accordance with the present invention, the lamp 3 is picked up by aholder 10, preferably a suction type holder. of the primary transfermechanism PT which maintains the lamp 3 in a vertical neck-down positionthroughout its path of travel 11 (Fig. 2) to position B but whichrotates the lamp a predetermined amount during said travel. At positionB the lamp is gripped by the jaws 12 (Figs. 2, 3 and 6) of the secondarytransfer mechanism ST which carries the lamp through a path of travel 13(Fig. 2) during which the lamp is inverted to a neck-up position andplaced in a head 14" at station C on the conveyor 15 of the basingmachine BM. The rotation of the lamp about its axis by the primarytransfer PT compensates for the difference in angle positions of therespective heads of the sealex machine and the basing machine atstations A and C respectively and assures that the lamp is deposited inthe head'- 14 of the basing machine with its lead wire 6 located in avertical plane tangent to the path of travel 17 of said head 14.

The primary transfer mechanism PT is supported through a bracket 18(Fig. 2) from a stationary frame portion-19 of the sealex machine SM.The suction holder 10 thereof is carried by a vertical shaft 20 (Fig. 4)which is mounted to rotate in a block or head 21 and which extendsthrough a bracket 22 secured to the head 21 by bolts 23 and from whichit is supported by a collar 24 attached to said shaft. The holder 10 isheldon the shaft 20' by a spring 24 mounted on pins in the holder andthe shaft. The head 21 is, in turn, fixedly mounted ona horizontal shaft25 which is rotatably journaled in the free end of transfer arm 26. Theother end of arm 26 is fixed to a shaft 27 (Fig. 2) which is journaledin a bracket 28 attached to the bracket 18. The shaft 27 has fixedthereto a gear 29 which meshes with a rack 30 which is slid-ablysupported in the bracket 28 and is reciprocated by a connecting rod 32which is actuated by a cam on the sealex machine SM to cause the arm26-tobe oscillated in a vertical plane to carry the lamp bulb 3 alongthe arcuate path 11. The termini of the path of travel 11 are fixedaccurately by engagement of a roller stop member 33 on the arm 26' withrespective stop studs 34 and 35 respectively mounted on bracket 18 andon a bracket arm 36 attached to the cover plate 31 for the bracket 28.

During the oscillation of the transfer arm 26, the lamp bulb 3 andholder 10 and its shaft 20 are maintained in a vertical position, andthe horizontal shaft 25 on the head 21 is prevented from rotating byvirtue of a sprocket 35 which is keyed to the shaft 25 and is heldagainst rotation by a chain 36 encircling said sprocket 35 and astationary sprocket 37 (Fig. 3) which is co-axial with the shaft 27 butis fixed to bracket 28.

The rotation of the lamp 3 about its axis is effected by a pulley 40which is attached to the vertical shaft 20 carrying the lamp holder 10and which is driven by a belt 41 which passes over a pair of idlerpulleys 42 supported from bracket 22 and around a pulley 43 which ismounted to rotate freely on the horizontal shaft 25. The pulley 43 isdriven, upon oscillation of arm 26, by an epicyclic gear train includinga gear 44 which is fixed by pins 45 to pulley 43 and which meshes with agear 46 (Fig. 3) which is fixed to one end of a shaft 47 which isjournaled in the arm 26 and to the other end of which is fixed a gear 48which meshes with and rotates about a gear 49 which is freely rotatableabout shaft 25 but is connected to the sprocket 35 by a pin 50 (Figs 4).During oscillation of the arm 26 the gear 48' is caused to rotate aboutthe gear 49 which causes rotation of gears 46 and 44 to drive the pulley43 which, through the belt 41, causes rotation of pulley 40, shaft 20,holder '10 and lamp 3.

The degree of rotation of the holder 10 and lamp 3 is made adjustable byvirtue of a plate 51 (Figs. 4 and 5) which is rotatably mounted on shaft25 and which is provided with an arcuate slot 52 through which extendsthe pin 50. The gear 49 is also provided with an arcuate slot 53corresponding to slot 52. The plate 51 is thus adjusted angularly aboutthe shaft 25 with, respect to the gear 49' and is locked in a desiredposition by a bolt 52' which extends from. gear 49 through an arcuateslot 54 in plate 51.

As shown in Fig. 5, the pin 50 is locatedat the right hand end of slot53 in gear 49. During the initial part of the pivotal oscillation of arm26 away from position A, the gear 44 is locked against rotation aboutits axis by virtue of a friction shoe member 55 (Fig. 4) which is urgedby a spring 56 against the pulley 40 to thereby prevent movement of belt41 and rotation of pulley 43- and gear 44. Since the gear 44 is lockedagainst rotation about its own axis but is being rotated bodily aboutthe axis of shaft 27 by arm 26, it causes the gear 46 to rotate aboutits axis around gear 44 which, in turn, causes rotation of gear 48 aboutits axis which, in turn, causes rotation of gear 49'about its axis untilthe left hand end of slot 52 engages the pin 50; at this time, since thepin 50 is fixed to sprocket 35 which is positively locked againstrotation by chain 36, the gear 49 is thereafter prevented from rotatingabout its axis so that, upon continued movement of arm 26, the gear 49now causes gear 48 to rotate which in turn causes rotation of gears 46and 44 and pulley 43 to thereby drive the belt 41 and rotate the pulley40 against the friction of shoe 55-. It will be apparent that maximumrotation of holder 10 and bulb 3, of about 90 in this case, is obtainedwhen plate 51 is set so that the left hand end of slot 52 is against thepin 50 as well as the right hand end of slot 53- in gear 49; the minimumamount of rotation occurs whenthe right hand end of slot 52 is againstthe pin 50 so that slots 52 and 53 are co-extensive. In the particulararrangement of the machines shown in Fig. 1, the holder 10 and, lamp 3are rotated counterclockwise (as viewed from above) through an angle ofabout 60 corresponding to the angle F.

The suction to holder 10 is supplied through the bore 60 of shaft 20(Fig. 4), opening 61 in the wall of shaft 20, angular space 62 in head21, bore 63 of shaft 25, lateral opening 64 in shaft 25, angular groove65 in shaft 25, pipe or conduit 66, here 67 of shaft 27 (Fig. 3) andflexible tube 8 which leads to a source of vacuum.

Upon delivery of the lamp 3 to the point B, it is grasped by the jaws 12of the secondary transfer mechanism ST which carries the lamp along thearcuate path 13 (Fig. 2) to invert it and deposit it in a head 14 of thebasing machine BM located at position C.

The secondary transfer mechanism ST may be of a conventional typewherein the jaws 12 are carried by arms 70 which extend laterally fromrespective arms 71 which are pivoted on studs 72 in the head portion 73of a T-shaped transfer arm 74 which is fixed to a horizontal shaft 75journaled in a bracket 76 which is mounted on a bracket 77 carried bythe table 78 of the basing machine BM. The shaft 75 and arm 74 arerotated by a gear 79 (Fig. 3) fastened to shaft 75 and driven by a rack80 which is mounted in bracket 76 and is reciprocated by a connectingrod 81 from a cam on the cam shaft of the basing machine BM.

Upon reaching position B, the jaws 12 close upon the lamp bulb 3 andvacuum to the holder 10 is shut off by a solenoid which is actuated froma cam on the sealex machine SM. The jaws 12 are held in closed positionby a spring 90. (Fig. 6) extending between pins 91 and 92 in respectivearms 71. Upon reaching position C the jaws 12 are opened by a roller 93on an. arm 94 which is fastened to a shaft 95 (Fig. 3) journaled in abracket 96 and rotated by an arm 97 which is pivoted by a connecting rod98 which is actuated by a cam on the cam shaft of the basing machine BM.Upon rotation of the arm 94 (Fig. 6), the roller 93 strikes a camsurface 99 on the extended end of a link 100 which is pivoted on the pin91 in arm 71 and which is also connected to a pin 101 which is carriedby a slide member 102; the arm 71 is also connected to said slide member102 by a link 103 which is connected at its ends to pins 101 and 92. Therotation of arm 94 causes the link 100 to be pivoted to the positionshown in dot-dash lines which causes the slide 102 to be moved downwardand the link 103 to be also rotated so that the arms 71 are spread apartto open the jaws 12 which are thereafter held open by the spring 90. Theslide member 102 moves in ways in the head 73 of transfer arm 74 and isheld therein by a cover plate 104 which is provided with a slot 105 inwhich rides a pin 106 mounted on the slide 102. When the pin 106 is atthe bottom of slot 105 the links 100 and 103 are in position to holdopen the arms 71, with the center of pin 101 just below the centerlineof spring 90.

Substantially simultaneously with the opening of the jaws 12 at positionC the lamp 3 is clamped by jaws 110 of head 14. The said jaws are fixedto shafts 111 journaled in a base member 112 of head 14. The shafts 111have lateral extensions 113 which are engaged, upon entry of the head 14to station C by the ends of the arm 97 and a corresponding arm 114 onshaft 95 to rotate the shafts 111 in a direction to open the jaws 110.Upon movement of arms 97 and 114 by connecting rod 98, the shafts 111are released and rotated to close the jaws 110 by torsion springs 115surrounding the ends thereof. The lamp bulb 3 is then held by the jaws110 while seated on a saddle 116 on the base member 112.

The closing of the jaws at position B is effected when the link 100(Fig. 6) is engaged by a roller 117 (Fig. 2) on the arm 118 of a leverwhich is mounted to freely rotate on shaft 75 and which is provided withanother arm 119 which is connected by a cable or link 120 to adownwardly extending arm 121 which is mounted to pivot freely on shaft27 of the primary transfer PT. The arm 118 is normally held down by aspring 122 extending between the arm and the bracket 77, but it isrotated when the primary transfer arm 26 approaches the end of itsmovement to position B. This action takes place when the arm 121 ispivoted due to its engagement by a finger 123 extending laterally from acollar 124 fixed to the shaft 27, thereby causing the arm 118 to pivotupwardly to strike the end of the link 100 (Fig. 6) on the side oppositethe cam surface 99 to thereby pivot the link 100 to the position shownin full lines in Fig. 6.

In order to assist the cam in operating the transfer arm 74 of thesecondary transfer ST and smooth the action thereof, we may provide apair of springs 125 each connected at one end to a pin 126 in the head73 of arm 74 and each connected at its other end to a fixed pointdisplaced from the axis of shaft such that the springs are extended inthe horizontal positions of the arm 74 and are relaxed in the verticalposition of said arm 74. The springs thus act as energy accumulators toassist the arm in starting and stopping. In its respective horizontalposition, the position of the arm 74 is accurately fixed by stop lugs127 and 128 carried by the respective brackets 76 and 77.

The operation of transfer arm 26 of the primary transfer PT may also bemade smoother and its operating cam assisted by provision of a spring129 (Fig. 7) which is connected at one end to a pin 130 on the arm andat its other end to the upper end of an arm 131 (Fig. 7). The arm 131 ispivoted freely on shaft 27 and has a slot 132 at its lower end engaginga pin 133 mounted on the bracket 28. The arrangement is such that thespring 129 is extended when the arm 26 approaches the end of itsmovement toward position A.

What we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of theUnited States are:

A transfer mechanism comprising ap trrn mounted at one end foroscillation about a horizontal axis, a horizontal shaft journalled inthe other end of said arm and carrying a support means, a vertical shaftjournalled in said support means and carrying holder means at its lowerend for gripping an article to be transferred, a sprocket fixedconcentrically on said horizontal shaft, means for oscillating said armbetween pick-up and delivery positions, means operable to inhibitrotation of said sprocket about its own axis during oscillation of saidarm whereby to maintain said vertical shaft in a vertical positionduring oscillation of said arm, means to rotate said vertical shaft andthe holder means carried thereby about its axis comprising a firstpulley fixed to said vertical shaft, a second pulley mounted on saidhorizontal shaft for rotation thereabout and belt means interconnectingsaid pulleys, and means operable upon oscillation of said arm andcoupled to said sprocket for effecting operation of said means to rotatethe vertical shaft comprising a first gear mounted for rotation aboutsaid horizontal shaft and fixed to said second pulley, a second gearmounted adjacent said sprocket and on said horizontal shaft for rotationrelative thereto and having an arcuate slot therein, a pin fixed to saidsprocket and engaged in said slot in said second gear, and supplementalgear means journalled on said arm and meshing with said first and secondgears to constitute an epicyclic gear train for driving said secondpulley upon oscillation of said arm.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

